The Mysteries Deepen in Action RPG Path of Exile’s
Third Act

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – 17 October 2012 – Upcoming
dark and deep indie action RPG Path of Exile has unveiled details
of its Act 3 expansion. Set in the ruined city of Sarn, players
will face those who exiled them to Wraeclast and how it was
corrupted.

Act 3 will become available when Path of Exile enters Open Beta
in December. The game is currently in Closed Beta but has already
raised over USD$1.2m in crowd-funded support, with those supporters
gaining beta access.

PvP arena combat will be introduced in the next major patch,
making the wait for Act 3 more bearable but bloodier. The
game’s gigantic skill tree and skill gem combo system means
thousands of unique character builds will be able to challenge each
other.

“Act 3 adds an extra 50% of content to Path of
Exile’s world,” says Grinding Gear Games producer Chris
Wilson. “Our already gritty game gets a lot darker as players
explore Sarn and witness the full extent of the corruption and
cataclysm. High-level characters will really enjoy some of the
enemy encounters and combat challenges.”

Path of Exile’s lore and mysteries deepens as you explore
Sarn’s abandoned docks, markets, temples and sewers. For
reasons unknown, General Gravicius and the Ebony Legion have sailed
from your homeland Oriath to scour Sarn for its secrets, joining
Piety of Theopolis in a race against the player to plunder
Sarn’s tombs for wealth and power.

In the Solaris Temple, a magical army of floating constructs
known as the Ribbons continually sterilize the temple even as the
centuries wear on. Even though thaumaturgist Malachai the Soulless
is long dead, evidence of his dark experiments remain.

In addition to undead, magical constructs and corrupted horrors,
players will encounter some unlikely allies. An encampment of
exiles survive on the man-made island in the middle of the river,
led by wise and well-spoken Karui warrior Maramoa.

When released, the game will be free to play, but not
‘pay-to-win’. The game is currently in a Closed Beta,
but fans who pre-purchase at least USD$10 of credit for the
game’s ‘ethical microtransactions’ receive a beta
key. Beta keys are also regularly awarded to random community
members.

About Sarn: A shattered city, a sinister mystery, a land
tainted with insanity.

You’re standing at the edge of Sarn, the ruined capital of
the Eternal Empire. Not so eternal now. Its citizenry is gone,
taken by death and undeath in equal measures. Where hawkers shouted
their bargains, ladies browsed for silks, young lovers walked hand
in hand... creatures of nightmare stalk and feed. Beasts born of
corruption. The restless dead, bitter and lethal. A cursed city of
painful promises and preternatural peril.

You are an exile, banished for your crimes to Wraeclast, and
given a life sentence in the land of the damned. But Wraeclast
wasn’t always like this. It was once an empire of ten million
souls, a beautiful and bountiful continent that prospered for more
than a thousand years.

Something happened. A cataclysm. A corruption beyond reason.
Wraeclast took itself off to bed one balmy evening and, come
morning, it failed to wake. It slumbers, tossing and turning in the
perpetual nightmare that enslaved it during the darkest hours.

Players must fight their way through the necropolis to answer a
question: Who murdered Wraeclast?

You’re not alone in your curiosity. Others explore the
twisted capital city of the Eternal Empire. The Ebony Legion has
sailed from Oriath to scour Sarn for its secrets... avaricious
maggots on a fecund carcass. General Gravicius plunders its tombs
for wealth and power.

Piety of Theopolis harnesses corruption like a lover to her
bedhead. Her lovely visage hides an imagination most monstrous.

Is everyone and everything in Sarn out to kill or maim you
beyond recognition? Pretty much... with a few exceptions. As a
fellow exile, Hargan, will tell you: “Welcome to dirty, old
Sarn, the metropolis of opportunity. The opportunity to make
something of yourself or the opportunity to have a very messy
death.”

Key features of ‘Path of Exile’:

A dark and deep action RPG

Build unlimited unique characters on a gigantic skill tree

Combine over 110 skill gems to create unique combat
strategies

Explore a dark and gritty world rendered from a fixed 3D
perspective

Download and play for free, but never
‘pay-to-win’

Explore randomly generated levels for extreme
replayability

Craft weapons, magic items and even end-game maps to become
more powerful

Cooperate or compete with thousands of other exiles in a
persistent online world

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